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Blendo
Blendo was an early full-body spinner designed and built by James "Jamie" Hyneman with Adam Savage in charge of wiring the electronics and control systems (the pair would go on to fame as the co-hosts of Mythbusters). It was a full body spinner powered by a 5hp lawnmower engine. The body, made out of a salvaged wok, was surrounded by a sharpened steel ring at the bottom, augmented by two blades. Blendo had a spin speed of 500 RPM, and its destructive power was described by Jamie as "a piece of steel the size of a fist traveling at the speed of sound" http://thepacificanonline.com/new/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3584&Itemid=3. Blendo debuted in the 1995 Robot Wars US tournament, and was arguably the most destructive robot of that period. Blendo was declared joint Heavyweight Champion in 1995 with The Master in exchange for withdrawing from the event after creating a safety hazard by launching pieces of its opponents out of the arena. Blendo returned for the 1997 tournament where it destroyed Hercules and Punjar, but was asked to withdraw for the same reason and was awarded a special award. Blendo's spinner was manually activated before the match by Jamie inserting a power drill through a hole in Blendo's top to start the internal combustion weapon motor. Thus, Blendo would theoretically spin unabated for the entire battle. While this made for a persistent attack, it meant that if Blendo's spinner were to cut out mid-battle, it would not be able to start up again. Blendo entered every season of BattleBots through 3.0 - the BattleBox being sufficiently protective against flying debris - but did not achieve any success. Blendo's slow and poorly controlled drive system compounded with its opponents' highly improved armor made it all but obsolete. It lost every one of its BattleBots fights, including a grudge match against Punjar, one of the robots it destroyed in Robot Wars '97. A brief clip of Blendo and Jamie controlling it was displayed during the intro to the MythBusters pilot episodes explaining Jamie and Adam's 30 years of experience in special effects, especially model building, animatronics and toy prototyping, as qualifications. Robot History Las Vegas 1999 Presumably due to its success in Robot Wars US tournaments, Blendo automatically qualified for round 2, where it fought against Punjar, which it had famously destroyed in Robot Wars '97. Punjar spent the match charging at Blendo, which stopped Blendo from spinning quickly enough to cause any damage and sent it flying across the BattleBox. After continuing to attack Blendo, Punjar knocked it into the wall of the BattleBox, incapacitating it and securing the win. Blendo was still to compete in the heavyweight rumble, however. At the start, Blendo wandered around aimlessly, landing a few hits before its spinner stopped moving. After that it limply bumped other robots until the very end, where it was flipped over by BioHazard. Season 1.0 Once again, Blendo received a first round bye, where it met BioHazard (now in a tournament). BioHazard charged straight at Blendo and had its lifting front completely ripped off. However, this impact caused Blendo's engine to stall. BioHazard took advantage of this and flipped Blendo over for the KO (much like in the last time they fought). Blendo wasn't finished, however, as it participated the heavyweight royal rumble at the end of the tournament. Season 2.0 Blendo received a first round bye yet again, where it faced GoldDigger. It started well, tossing GoldDigger around the arena, but once again stopped moving after the impact of its first hit as the battery had come loose and came open inside the shell upon impact, meaning GoldDigger went through. Blendo wasn't finished, however, as it participated the heavyweight consolation rumble at the end of the tournament. Unfortunately, Blendo failed to start moving and it lost overall to OverKill and Punjar. Season 3.0 Blendo's only match was against Bacchus. During the match, Blendo did massive damage to Bacchus, but then Blendo backed off and drove over the piston. Unfortunately for Blendo, the hazard didn't simply send Blendo into the air, it pushed the robot's internal components into its spinning shell, destroying Blendo from the inside. The spinbot stopped moving and it was being counted out. Bacchus won by KO and Blendo was eliminated from the tournament. Because it lost in the round of 64, Blendo couldn't participate the heavyweight consolation rumble at the end of the tournament. Wins/Losses * Wins: 0 * Losses: 4 Merchandise *Blendo/RC Custom Series *Blendo/MiniBot *Blendo/SpinBot Blendo rw95.jpg|The original Blendo from 1995. Blendo RW 1997.jpg|Blendo's Robot Wars 1997 appearance. blendoa.jpg|Blendo in 2001|linktext=http://www.robotcombat.com/bbsf01heavy.html Category:BattleBots Competitors Category:Heavyweight Robots Category:Full-Body Spinners Category:Robots that fought on television Category:Robots that have never won a battle Category:Consolation Rumble Participants Category:Royal Rumble Participants Category:Robots in the Combat Robot Hall Of Fame Category:Robots that have never had a judges decision Category:Robots from California Category:Robots made into toys